Monday, December 9, 2013

When people reach out to us for fitness coaching or advice, they are often surprised that we actually have a lot of questions for them first....

That's because when you are trying to make a permanent lifestyle change in fitness, you have to find something you love.

It's like when you decide to marry someone.....you've tried others in the past and for whatever reason(s), it didn't work, but then you met "The One" and you learned about each other, things clicked, and BAM, you're ready for a life together.

Same concepts apply to making a lifetime commit to health and fitness. For something to theoretically last forever, you have to really love it!!

Dabble around....try the gym, try at home workouts, try group fitness classes, try CrossFit. Even though we are a "fitness duo", we are pretty different in our fitness love lives: he is 99% CrossFit and 1% running/biking, while Lindsay is 99% home workout programs and 1% miscellaneous (usually CrossFit).

Moral of the story is this: when you dabble around and try some or all of the different options related to fitness, chances are, you'll find things you really enjoy and you'll find things that you probably won't ever do again :) That's the point....find what you love, then do it.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

People almost
have a coronary if they see us eat unhealthy foods. Like we are suppose
to be some kind of alien life forms who only consumes boiled chicken and
broccoli out of Tupperware containers.

While we use our blog and our presence on social media to promote a
healthy lifestyle....our MAIN GOAL is to show people the way to
integrating a balanced approach to nutrition and fitness into their
lifestyle. Fast food once in a while won't kill you. Cookies or chips
once in a while won't derail any weightloss goal you might have. SIMMA
DOWN!

Granted....if you are just starting to consider dipping
your toe into diet and exercise, it might be a real struggle for you to
be able to maintain balance. We were certainly way more strict when we
first began our journey. B.U.T. - if you truly want something to last,
to be maintainable with ease....you have to find the balance.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

I've seen that quote (paraphrased) several times before, but today, it just hit me stronger...

Maybe it's because my social media newsfeeds are FULL of posts and messages about people saying something along the lines of "I'll just wait until after the holidays, then I'll start [insert healthy living objective here]".

Or maybe it's because the quote made me flashback to when Timothy and I kept pushing off trying to conceive because we wanted everything to be just right before we had a baby (little did we know, getting pregnant wouldn't be so easy).

Whatever it was the made this resonate with me today doesn't really matter... What truly matters is that it is RIGHT. It is TRUE.

We can't keep pushing off what we need to do for these laundry lists of reasons excuses. We can't keep saying things like: I will do it when things slow down, or I will do it once the busy holiday season is over, or I will do it when the baby starts sleeping better, or I will do it when we have more money.

If you've been telling yourself you'll do it once the conditions are perfect, go to the mirror right now and tell yourself "Self, that's a load of bullshit and what I really mean to say is that I'll never do it." Because that's what is truly going on....if you're waiting for perfect conditions, you'll never do it.

Start today. Start this very minute. Take the plunge. You just might surprise yourself :)

Monday, December 2, 2013

We *love* the sweet stuff, just as much as the next person! There are a couple of things we've found that help us indulge our sweet tooth without totally blowing our progress out the water....

The first is that we always make our own goodies versus buying the packaged/boxed versions. This is like healthy living tip #1....learn it, live it, love it. :) Even if it's higher calorie or higher fat, your body will process real ingredients better than it will anything pre-packaged/fake. End of story.

The second is substitutions. Especially when you're baking some sweet goodies, substitutions are an easy way to make these yummy noms healthier! Here are some of our favorites:

White Flour Substitutions

Nut flours

Our favorites are almond and coconut flours.

Black beans

This is a great substitution when you're making brownies!

Whole wheat flour

If you aren't quite ready to experiment with the above mentioned, take it slow and just swap your white flour for wheat flour.